It appears that conversion at the sword continues:
Men in black clothes and masks beheaded three teenage Christian girls on Saturday in eastern Indonesia as they walked to school near the Muslim town of Poso, officials said.
By the always interesting, always informative Amir Taheri:
This fake Islamic hijab is nothing but a political prop, a weapon of visual terrorism. It is the symbol of a totalitarian ideology inspired more by Nazism and Communism than by Islam. It is as symbolic of Islam as the Mao uniform was of Chinese civilization. It is used as a means of exerting pressure on Muslim women who do not wear it because they do not share the sick ideology behind it. It is a sign of support for extremists who wish to impose their creed, first on Muslims, and then on the entire world through psychological pressure, violence, terror, and, ultimately, war. The tragedy is that many of those who wear it are not aware of its implications. They do so because they have been brainwashed into believing that a woman cannot be a ''good Muslim'' without covering her head with the Sadr-designed hijab.
What the New York Times printed:
Another member of the 1/5, Cpl. Jeffrey B. Starr, rejected a $24,000 bonus to re-enlist. Corporal Starr believed strongly in the war, his father said, but was tired of the harsh life and nearness of death in Iraq. So he enrolled at Everett Community College near his parents' home in Snohomish, Wash., planning to study psychology after his enlistment ended in August.
But he died in a firefight in Ramadi on April 30 during his third tour in Iraq. He was 22.
Sifting through Corporal Starr's laptop computer after his death, his father found a letter to be delivered to the marine's girlfriend. ''I kind of predicted this,'' Corporal Starr wrote of his own death. ''A third time just seemed like I'm pushing my chances.''
"Obviously if you are reading this then I have died in Iraq. I kind of predicted this, that is why I'm writing this in November. A third time just seemed like I'm pushing my chances. I don't regret going, everybody dies but few get to do it for something as important as freedom. It may seem confusing why we are in Iraq, it's not to me. I'm here helping these people, so that they can live the way we live. Not have to worry about tyrants or vicious dictators. To do what they want with their lives. To me that is why I died. Others have died for my freedom, now this is my mark."
"All we are saying, is give peace a chance ..."
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dismissed international condemnation of his call for Israel to be "wiped off the map", saying his controversial remarks were "right and just."
The official IRNA news agency quoted Mr. Ahmadinejad Friday as saying international scorn had no validity. He said his words express the views of the Iranian people.
Tens of thousands of Iranians staged anti-Israel protests across the country today, trampling on Israeli and American flags and chanting "death to Israel."
The latest events came amid Israeli calls for Iran's expulsion from the United Nations. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Thursday the rights of all states in the Middle East to live in peace will top the agenda of his upcoming visit to Iran.
By that cat blogging fellow over at This blog is full of crap. The first one is my favorite.
NRO's Kathryn Lopez interviews the author of Do As I Say (Not As I Do), and comes up with this nugget:
One overarching kinda question: We all have our moments of hypocrisy. That we don't practice what we preach doesn't make what we preach any less valid. People are human, etc. Is there something about your book that is somewhat fundamentally unfair?
Schweizer: Yes, we are all hypocrites and I talk about that in the book. But liberal hypocrisy and conservative hypocrisy are quite different on two accounts. First, you hear about conservative hypocrisy all the time. A pro-family congressman caught in an extramarital affair, a minister caught in the same. This stuff is exposed by the media all the time. The leaders of the liberal-Left get a complete pass on their hypocrisy. Second, and this is even more important, the consequences of liberal hypocrisy are different than for the conservative variety. When conservatives abandon their principles and become hypocrites, they end up hurting themselves and their families. Conservative principles are like guard rails on a winding road. They are irritating but fundamentally good for you. Liberal hypocrisy is the opposite. When the liberal-left abandon their principles and become hypocrites, they actually improve their lives. Their kids end up in better schools, they have more money, and their families are more content. Their ideas are truly that bad.
WHEN will it end??? Arianna leads with "Plamegate: Worse than Watergate." Someone has sunk so deep into partisan politics, I doubt she could tell her head from her ass.
Some tool over on HuffPo wrote a long piece about why he's going to get himself arrested, with Saint Cindy today, in commemoration of the 2000th death. He gives his reasons for protest, and I found this one interesting:
* Anger -- I'm extremely angry. A gang of criminals blatantly lied to the world about the reasons for the slaughter. There could be no acceptable reasons for such a thing, but I would be less angry -- I think -- or it would be a very different anger if they had given honest reasons and my compatriots had accepted them. Instead they told lies. They concocted stories. They forged documents! And many of us knew they were lying. They weren't even so much lying as going through the motions of lying -- this was the level of their arrogance. This sort of arrogance may never before have seen its match outside of the profession of journalism -- a profession about which I am too angry to speak.
That was the US cost of life fighting against Fascism and Japanese Imperialism in WWII.
Tomorrow, there will be gatherings across the US to commemorate passing the 2000th American military death in Iraq. One such gathering will be just a mile or so from my house. Will I be there? I just might be.
I USED to be an imbecile, but then I read the wise, wise words of Cenk Uygur, and now I'm a new person! Who would have thought the Huffington Post could have such a sage of wisdom?
George W. Bush is the most powerful man alive. He is a class A imbecile. He is far less intelligent than the average Christian. But like most of the others, he believes Jesus died for his sins. That idea is so perverse and devoid of logic it should shock the conscience. Instead, it gets him elected, and earns him the reverence of a great percentage of America. America! The most advanced country in the world -- run by a bunch of villagers who still believe Santa Claus is going to save them.
There is no damn Easter Bunny. There is no Jesus waiting to return. Moses never even existed. These were all convenient lies from the men of those times to gain power. Their actions were rational -- they wanted to deceive their brethren so that they could amass power. I get their motivations. But I cannot, for the life of me, understand our motivations, thousands of years later, still following the conmen of yesteryear into our gory, bloody, violent end.
Jesus is said to have said on the cross, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Because Jesus was insane and the God he thought would rescue him did not exist. And he died on that cross like a fool. He fancied himself the son of God and he could barely convince twelve men to follow him at a time when the world was full of superstition.
Nielsen's top 20 shows for last week :
1 CSI (never watched this show ever.)
2 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (watched for half of last year, then got kinda bored)
3 WITHOUT A TRACE (I have seen one or two episodes of this show.)
4 LOST (In my" top 3"- 24, Battlestar Galactica, Lost.)
5 GREY'S ANATOMY (Never watched.)
6 CSI: MIAMI (never watched.)
7 NCIS (I've never even heard of this show)
8 COMMANDER IN CHIEF (refuse to watch)
9 SURVIVOR: GUATEMALA (Never ever watched.)
10 60 MINUTES (You're joking, right? I think the last time I watched of of these, I was still in high school, which - trust me on this - was a long time ago.)
11 NFL MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL (Well, this is often ON in my house, but I don't watch it personally.)
12 LAW AND ORDER:SVU (If I'm awake, and it's on, I will watch.)
13 CSI: NY (Never watched.)
14 TWO AND A HALF MEN (Never watched.)
15 EXTREME MAKEOVER:HOME ED. (I've seen this once or twice.)
16 E.R. (occasionally watch.)
17 COLD CASE (Don't watch.)
18 FOX MLB LCS: GMS 1&2(S) (You don't need me to respond to this one, do you?)
19 CRIMINAL MINDS (Never watched, never heard of it.)
20 MLB DIV : AL (see #18.)
Anyway - I'm going to be one of those Nielsen's households in a few weeks. I'm gonna try to shake things up. Just wait, Battlestar will be #1!
File this under "YGTBFKM"*:
For three weeks, impressionable twelve-year-old students were, among other things, placed into Islamic city groups, took Islamic names, wore identification tags that displayed their new Islamic name and the Star and Crescent Moon, which is the symbol of Muslims, were handed materials that instructed them to “Remember Allah always so that you may prosper,” completed the Islamic Five Pillars of Faith, including fasting, and memorized and recited the “Bismillah” or “In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate,” which students also wrote on banners that were hung on the classroom walls.
This from Black Panther leader Malik Zulu Shabazz:
We are here to say clearly, and we got proof, that black people are the original people of the planet Earth.
That you are, black man and black woman, the original man and the original woman on the face of the planet Earth — there is no question about it. Huh? We were just watchin’ TV tonight and they went back and said they made a mistake. That they had the first Homo sapiens, was from Ethiopia, come from the word ethiops, meaning from the land of the black and the burnt-skinned people. That they found the oldest human Homo sapien, and Ethiopia, they thought he was a hundred and sixty thousand years old, but they say they made a 35,000-year-old mistake. Two hundred thousand years old! The Homo sapien, the progenitor of the modern human. Then they went back in Africa — I said Africa — Don’t care what they say about Africa, let me tell you about Africa — that they came and they said that they found the oldest fossils of the human ancestors and years ago, uh, L.S.B. Leakey and others gave her a date, they called her “Lucy”, the skeletal remains, and gave her a birthdate of two million years old. Then they went back and found another ancestor, uh, of THAT, uh, progenitor, and found an ancestor THREE million years old! FOUR million years old! They cannot find the origin of the black man and the black woman. (“That’s right!”) You know why? It’s because we are without origin. And we are without father and without mother. We are the original people on the planet — we are the responsible for the existence of the white race! (Applause.)
Went reading and found these "pre-election" thoughts over at Iraq the Model, written by Mohammed:
I am so excited but a flashback from Saddam’s referendum three years ago still hurts; he wanted a 100% as the 99.96% of the previous one shocked the dictator. I was depressed that way and I decided not to go to the voting office and so did the rest of the family but my father was afraid that not going could be dangerous.
He said that maybe one member of the family could go alone and cast votes for the rest of us. We looked at each other thinking who’s going to volunteer to do this ugly job to protect the family. At that moment my father said “it was my generation that caused the misery we’re living in so I’m the one who should do this”.
I couldn’t stop him and I couldn’t utter a word but I felt sad for him; his sacrifice was big and I had teary eyes when I watched him taking our papers and heading out.
It is different this time father, no more 100% and a ‘no’ would make me happy just like a ’yes’ would do and no one ever will force us to do something against our will anymore.
Tomorrow will be another day for Iraqi bravery. May God protect you my people…you have suffered so much and you will still be suffering for some time but I am sure the future will be bright.
God bless you my people and all the freedom lovers who keep sacrificing to make this world a better place.
Anyhoo, this blog was a year old a few days ago. OBVIOUSLY, in celebration, I've spent the last few days so drunk I couldn't even post.
Yea, something like that.
Al-Zarqawi gives his four point plan:
So we must think for a long time about our next steps and how we want to attain it, and it is my humble opinion that the Jihad in Iraq requires several incremental goals:
The first stage: expel the Americans from Iraq.
The second stage: Establish an Islamic authority or amirate, then develop it and support it until it achieves the level of a caliphate over as much territory as you can to spread its power in Iraq, i.e., in Sunni areas, is in order to fill the void stemming from the departure of the Americans, immediately upon their exit and before un-Islamic forces attempt to fill this void, whether those whom the Americans will leave behind them, or those among the un-Islamic forces who will ... jump at taking power.
There is no doubt that this amirate will enter into a fierce struggle with the foreign infidel forces, and those supporting them among the local forces, to put it in a state of constant preoccupation with defending itself, to make it impossible for it to establish a stable state which could proclaim a caliphate, and to keep the Jihadist groups in a constant state of war, until these forces find a chance to annihilate them.
The third stage: Extend the jihad wave to the secular countries neighboring Iraq.
The fourth stage: It may coincide with what came before: the clash with Israel, because Israel was established only to challenge any new Islamic entity.
My raising this idea — I don't claim that it's infallible — is only to stress something extremely important. And it is that the mujahedeen must not have their mission end with the expulsion of the Americans from Iraq, and then lay down their weapons, and silence the fighting zeal. We will return to having the secularists and traitors holding sway over us. Instead, their ongoing mission is to establish an Islamic State, and defend it, and for every generation to hand over the banner to the one after it until the Hour of Resurrection.
They killed my PHLOX.
Word to lawn people. If you DON'T know what it is, DON'T fricken touch it.
I'm gonna be sick.
One of the absolutely stupidest theories out there is that the World Train Center wasn't attacked by Islamic Fundamentalists. Theories as to what happened are, as they said in the X-Files are "out there" - but mostly are found among two groups; muslim and liberal. This from from The New York Post
Hicks does not like the term "conspiracy theory" because, he says, "That assumes it's wrong or not credible."
"I think there is a wealth of alternative knowledge out there that the American people are being kept away from," he told me.
So I ask if the Muslim world is off the hook for 9/11. He said, "Arab rage is a factor" in terror. "But the CIA is smart enough to know this, and to use that rage.
"The Arab community didn't benefit from 9/11. It was Bush and Co."
Around the corner and a million miles away from the yuppie leftists of Vox Pop, Coney Island Avenue hosts a large Pakistani community. It would seem to have little in common with the cafe — until you get people talking.
Men gathered at the Subhan restaurant don't hesitate to say 9/11 is a government-sponsored atrocity.
"They want to go for oil, for war," said Majid, who asked that his last name not be printed. "The government, they don't care how many people can die. America does everything for its own behalf. Bush is evil."
Majid, a 43-year-old cabdriver, is an American citizen.
Wesley Sohail, 14, told me the kids discuss 9/11 attacks, and our government's culpability, in school.
"We don't think they brought the buildings down, we think they let it happen," he said. He said his teachers agree.
Optimism is the word for today:
The quake shook the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where bin Laden is believed to be hiding. However, authorities at this point have no information indicating he's been injured or killed, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the information's sensitivity.
In an interview, Abu Bakar Bashire gives advice to George W. Bush:
What can the West, especially the US, do to make the world more peaceful?
They have to stop fighting Islam. That's impossible because is sunnatullah [destiny, a law of nature], as Allah has said in the Koran. If they want to have peace, they have to accept to be governed by Islam.
As long as there is no intention to fight us and Islam continues to grow there can be peace. This is the doctrine of Islam. Islam can't be ruled by others. Allah's law must stand above human law. There is no [example] of Islam and infidels, the right and the wrong, living together in peace.
I found myself behind a car in Vermont, in the US, the other day; it had a one-word bumper sticker with the injunction "COEXIST". It's one of those sentiments beloved of Western progressives, one designed principally to flatter their sense of moral superiority. The C was the Islamic crescent, the O was the hippie peace sign, the X was the Star of David and the T was the Christian cross. Very nice, hard to argue with. But the reality is, it's the first of those symbols that has a problem with coexistence. Take the crescent out of the equation and you wouldn't need a bumper sticker at all. Indeed, coexistence is what the Islamists are at war with; or, if you prefer, pluralism, the idea that different groups can rub along together within the same general neighbourhood. There are many trouble spots across the world but, as a general rule, even if one gives no more than a cursory glance at the foreign pages, it's easy to guess at least one of the sides: Muslims v Jews in Palestine, Muslims v Hindus in Kashmir, Muslims v Christians in Nigeria, Muslims v Buddhists in southern Thailand, Muslims v (your team here). Whatever one's views of the merits on a case by case basis, the ubiquitousness of one team is a fact.
Is "atwitter" a word? My spellcheck isn't bumping it, so I'm going with it.
I was over at Unbearable Bobness a bit ago, and he is just oozing with glee over all the criminal indictments he, and the left, imagine are going to lead to the ruin of the Republican Party. In an effort to edjumacate, I offer this I stole from Powerline:
Abrams: Thanks for coming back on the program. I haven't even had a chance to look at this indictment. Tell me what it's about.
DeGuerin: I haven't seen it either, but I'll tell you what happened. Earlier today, a motion was filed that spelled out for Ronnie Earle in terms that even he could even understand that there is no such thing as a conspiracy to violate the Texas election code. So the original indictment doesn't charge a crime. So I guess this is his reaction that he had to rush back to the grand jury and charge some other crime.
Abrams: So you think literally, today, today, he went to a grand jury in the afternoon and got an indictment on money laundering that quickly?
DeGuerin: Apparently, after all the motions spelled out there's no conspiracy to violate the election code. It's just real clear, there's no such crime. So apparently in response to that, he rushed before another grand jury.
Abrams: And again, and and we've talked about this before, you appreciate how severe the allegation that you're making against the district attorney is. The notion that this district attorney went to a grand jury in response to you filing a legal motion and as a result, got a grand jury to indict your client is a very serious allegation.
DeGuerin: I think that's exactly what happened, Dan. And make no bones about it, if you look at what we filed, it's just clear as a bell. There's no conspiracy to violate the Texas election code. Ronnie Earle should have known that before they issued the first indictment, but this is apparently like a band-aid, some kind of patchwork to make up for the fact that they issued an indictment for something that's not a crime first.
***************************
Abrams: Dick, how do you expect to be able to defend two different charges? Are you going to attack both in the same manner, meaning to basically allege, it sounds like you're doing now, that this is political.
DeGuerin: No, what I said to you, Dan, is the first charge just won't hold water. It is not a crime and it's astounding to me that a district attorney who's been in office for 27 years to get a grand jury to return an indictment for something that's not a crime. All he had to do was look at the books a little bit and he'd learn that. And I suppose that -- earlier today, his reaction was, I'll just go get another indictment for something else.
Much discussion regarding the Bill Bennett comment last week. Opinion Journal had an interesting post about it, but really, I found this nugget cut right to the heart of the matter:
It is a fact that blacks in America have a far higher violent crime rate than nonblacks. MediaMatters and politically correct folks everywhere do not want you to think about this fact, at least if you are white. But which is a bigger problem, the fact itself or white people's thinking about it?
For something completely different:
The Shining in 30 seconds performed by bunnies.
The Shining movie trailer if it were a warm family movie.
Dave brought it up over the weekend, and it made me go searching for the bunny version. This is kind of a THEME post.
Now there is this to chew on. The BBC had a "fantasy leadership" poll and these were the results:
1 - Nelson Mandela
2 - Bill Clinton
3 - Dalai Lama
4 - Noam Chomsky (pictured)
5 - Alan Greenspan
6 - Bill Gates
7 - Steve Jobs
8 - Archbishop Desmond Tutu
9 - Richard Branson
10 - George Soros
11 - Kofi Annan
I have this fantasy, where people are asked to contemplate a "world government" - and they go running for their guns. NOAM CHOMSKY? WTF is up with that?
Bush ranked 43rd - right below Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.
Often I don't read blogs over the weekend, which means I miss interesting discussions. So, I missed one over at Ace's, and now it's simply too late to join in. Charles Murray wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Poverty, Katrina, the underclass, and illegitimacy:
The government hasn't a clue. Versions of every program being proposed in the aftermath of Katrina have been tried before and evaluated. We already know that the programs are mismatched with the characteristics of the underclass. Job training? Unemployment in the underclass is not caused by lack of jobs or of job skills, but by the inability to get up every morning and go to work. A homesteading act? The lack of home ownership is not caused by the inability to save money from meager earnings, but because the concept of thrift is alien. You name it, we've tried it. It doesn't work with the underclass.
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